For decades, Ed Wood's movie Plan 9 From Outer Space has reigned supreme as the most brilliantly awful movie ever made. Starring Vampira and an aged, drugged out Bela Lugosi, the 50s flick is about aliens who come to Earth and reanimate dead bodies as part of their world-domination scheme. The weird, elliptical script, bugged-out acting, and transcendently inadequate special effects helped make Plan 9 from Outer Space a movie that defined the "so bad it's good" genre. But now indie director John Johnson says he's remaking the film as a non-campy, "character-driven" move that will be "very scary." He's calling it Plan 9, or just P9. What the hell?

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The aesthetics of Wood's original flick already inspired Tim Burton to make a demented biopic about the director — a spunky transvestite who took care of the mostly-forgotten Lugosi in his old age — called simply Ed Wood. Both campy and a serious, touching homage to the world Wood created with his movies, the movie earned Martin Landau an Academy Award for his portrayal of Lugosi. Is there really a need for another director to revisit Wood's greatest work "seriously"?

According to the film website:

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Simply titled "Plan 9", the remake will be a serious-minded retelling of the original story, paying homage to the spirit of Wood's film without resorting to camp or parody. The film will focus on the horror and science fiction aspects of the original, but will also be largely character-driven. Johnson's goal for "Plan 9" is to make a film that honors not only the original source material, but also Ed Wood's intentions when he made "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Wood's plan was to make a very scary sci-fi/horror film, and Johnson wishes to do exactly that - create a film that Wood would have enjoyed, or perhaps even made himself, if not bound by the technological limitations placed on filmmakers 50 years ago.

The remake will be released to coincide with the 50th anniversary DVD edition of the original movie.